Running repairs keep loaded cars on the move

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Railroad equipment sustains a great deal of wear and tear as the freight cars travel about the country. For this reason, all cars receive careful attention from car inspectors anytime they move through a yard or terminal. Car inspectors are trained to look for anything that’s wrong with a freight car, from damaged safety appliances […]

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To Saigon via Summit

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A Santa Fe RSD15, SD24, and two SD45s curve toward Summit with an eastbound freight on November 14, 1970.  Jay Potter People used to say that railroads held the country together. They were the proverbial ribbons of steel that kept commerce and people moving and made a lot of things possible. Today — as I […]

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Ohio’s railroads: 1946 and 2006

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It’s almost a cliché to call Ohio a crossroads of railroading. The state was, literally, stitched in steel. Here, the New York-Chicago and New York-St. Louis routes of the Eastern trunk lines crossed paths with Pocahontas coal roads making a beeline to Lake Erie and nearby railroad gateways (Norfolk & Western got as far as […]

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WM diesels for smoke abatement

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Two Western Maryland F3s haul a 2-10-0 and its train on the outskirts of Baltimore. The diesels were on the train for just a short distance to keep the Decapod from running afoul of municipal anti-smoke laws. Francis Riffle photo […]

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Locomotive radiators keep engines cool

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A BNSF ES44C4’s radiator assembly in the plant at Fort Worth, Texas. Both GE and EMD radiator sections are prebuilt and set onto the frame during assembly. Chris Guss Locomotive engine heat, left uncontrolled, can damage engine parts and shorten the life of the engine and its attached components. An effective radiator system keeps the […]

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Surviving FL9s

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New Haven FL9 2019, owned by Railroad Museum of New England, during North Carolina Transportation Museum’s Streamliners at Spencer event in June 2014. Robert S. McGonigal View a list of the 22 survivors of the New Haven’s original fleet of 60 FL9 locomotives […]

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